Long Description of Slide 3 Image: Congestion Getting Worse

Congestion Is Getting Worse

The average trip takes almost 40 percent longer than the same trip in the middle of the day, compared to 13 percent longer in 1982.

• Sixty-seven percent of the peak-period travel is congested compared to 32 percent in 1982. Travelers in 85 urban areas spent 3.76 billion hours stuck in traffic in 2002, up from 0.72 billion in 1982.
• Sixty percent of the major road system is congested compared to 36 percent in 1982.
• The number of hours of the day when travelers might encounter congestion has grown from 4.5 hours to 7.1 hours.

Reliability of Trips Has Decreased

• Travelers have to budget more time for their trips to account for large fluctuations in travel time caused by unexpected events such as incidents, bad weather and work zones
• If nothing is done, the expected increase in the demand for travel will make congestion worse
• As VMT grows, congestion continues to get worse causing more unpredictable travel times - thus, a more unreliable transportation system

10-year Growth in Congestion has been Significant

Congestion levels have risen to levels experienced by the next largest population group every 10 years. For example in 2002, cities between 500,000 and one million people experienced the congestion of cities between one and three million in 1992.

Congestion now affects more trips, more hours of the day and more of the transportation system.